'I watched Keir Starmer attack Nigel Farage - and it reminded me of one thing'
At Keir Starmer's speech today, I was transported back to the general election campaign.
Political journalists received an email from Labour last night saying the PM would be doing a speech the next morning to warn voters that Nigel Farage's 'fantasy economics would see a return to Liz Truss's economic meltdown'.
Even the venue, Glass Futures in Warrington, only found out about the event in the evening. Those working overnight in the factory had a busy shift cleaning up the place ready for the Prime Minister, of all people, to make an appearance the next day.
It had all the air of chaos of an election campaign. (It was only exacerbated by rail delays this morning that meant all the reporters had to flee a train stuck in Crewe and get an almost hour-long taxi to the site. I made it to the speech with seconds to spare before the PM started.)
As I stood on a factory floor watching Mr Starmer attack an opposition leader with insults, anger and passion, it felt like the Labour leader was back in campaign mode.
Yet clearly, this is not an election campaign. In fact, the next election will likely not be for another four years. He's the Prime Minister - with a more than 400-seat Labour majority.
So what was the trigger for this hastily arranged press conference? Well it definitely wasn't anything to do with the Tories, who the PM only briefly mentioned to say they were 'sliding into the abyss'.
It was entirely to do with a press conference held by Nigel Farage on Tuesday. For a party with just five MPs, Reform UK has certainly triggered concern among the top ranks in government. If an election was held tomorrow, Reform would win 29% of the vote, while Labour would get 22% and the Tories just 17%. The Lib Dems would bag 16% and the Greens would take 10%.
But it was Mr Farage announcing a series of eye-catching policies that has really riled up Downing Street. Among them, the right-wing politician tried to outflank Labour by committing to fully reinstating the winter fuel payments and reversing the two-child benefit limit. It comes after the PM announced at least a partial U-turn on winter fuel cuts, while ditching the Tory-era two-child benefit policy is 'on the table' for the Government.
The Reform leader also said his 'biggest aspiration' was for Brits to avoid paying tax on any earnings up to £20,000 (a plan that could cost up to £80billion). Labour analysis suggests the policy could lead to increased mortgage payments of £5,500 for the average family because it could require billions of pounds of additional borrowing every year.
Mr Farage said he'd pay for announcements by scrapping plans to reach net zero carbon emissions, closing asylum hotels and ditching diversity programmes - but he gave little detail on how any of this would work.
A furious Mr Starmer said the Reform UK leader is doing a 'Liz Truss 2.0' and wants to 'blow up the economy'. 'We're once again fighting the same fantasy, this time from Farage,' he said. 'The same bet in the same casino: That you could spend tens of billions of pounds on tax cuts without a proper way of paying for them. Using your monthly finances, your mortgage, your bills as the gambling chip on this mad experiment.'
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The PM added: 'I feel very strongly it's my responsibility to protect working people from being put through that ever again.'
Labour has been ramping up its attacks on Mr Farage in recent weeks, branding him a 'private-educated stockbroker and career politician'. And the PM said today he does not need "lessons" from the Reform UK leader, as he actually grew up working class with a dad who worked 10-hour days in a factory.
But the bottom line is after a bruising set of local elections, which also saw the party lose the northern safe seat of Runcorn and Helsby by six votes, Labour MPs are concerned.
It is hard to appreciate how quickly things have changed since Labour's 2024 election victory. I was in the room and remember the scenes of jubilation as Mr Starmer declared 'we did it!' to Labour activists at 5am on election night in July. The room was overflowing with excitement, hope and belief in a new Labour government.
Now after almost a year in power - with the reality of governing settling in - they have perhaps realised the campaigning never stops.
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